Washington Capitals rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov said it was his “dream since childhood” to get into an NHL playoff game. Well, he probably didn’t dream up his postseason debut the way it went, as he replaced Jose Theodore for Game 2 of the Caps’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the New York Rangers but couldn’t change Washington’s fortunes yesterday.

MK: He was the coach of the year last season, but I think Bruce Boudreau blew this one. I know it was only 1-0, but I don’t think benching the veteran goaltender after just one bad playoff game sends the right message to the team. I’m not a Theodore guy, but Boudreau claimed Theodore was his ‘guy.’ I’d hate to see how he handles players that aren’t his ‘guys.’

•Somebody give Philadelphia defensemanKimmo Timomen a tissue. Here’s what he had to say yesterday: “You see Crosby and these guys going to the refs and talking to them. It looks like they talk to them back, and when we go talk to them, they yell at us. It’s a little bit of a difference, but that’s something I don’t really care (about). We can control how we play, and, hopefully, we’ll get a couple of breaks, too.” (Let me get this, he doesn’t care about it, but he brought it up, right?)

For a team that I particularty don’t care about I find myself cheering for them because of this Varlamov kid. Game 1 vs Pitt, WOW 2 saves in particular were damn near superhuman. Good Luck to Varlamov but GO DUCKS.